Preseason football is preseason football, mostly backups, mostly vanilla schemes, mostly noise. But there were a few real storylines buried in Washington's 1-2 exhibition slate, and the most important one got settled before the third game even kicked off. Week 1: Commanders 20, Dolphins 7 The opener had one genuinely bad moment and one genuinely good one. The bad: backup quarterback Marcus Mariota went down on a non-contact leg injury just four plays into the game, handing the ball off on what should've been a routine play. He walked off under his own power, but a knee sprain that lingers into the regular season is exactly the kind of thing you don't want from your QB2. The good: rookie running back Robert Henry Jr. broke off a 22-yard touchdown run, and the kicker battle everyone's been watching all camp took a decisive turn. Jake Moody clanked a field goal off the upright (it went in, barely) while Drew Stevens looked clean in the same game. Washington won comfortably, mostly with backups on the field for both sides. Week 2: Commanders 13, Lions 17 This one actually featured the starters, briefly. Jayden Daniels got the start, went three-and-out on Washington's first series, took a sack, and was pulled after his lone pass attempt. That's about as small a sample size as it gets, and by design, Dan Quinn wasn't looking for revelations in preseason game two. The defense had the highlight of the day: Amik Robertson strip-sacked Detroit's Joshua Dobbs and Washington recovered it in the end zone for a touchdown. Stevens hit a field goal to cut it to 14-13 late, but Detroit answered and Washington's defense couldn't get a stop, going just 4-for-12 on third down for the game. A winnable one that got away. Week 3: Commanders 3, Ravens 41 The finale was ugly, but context matters here, Washington held out roughly 40 players, including Daniels, McLaurin, Diggs, and most of the starting lines on both sides of the ball. Rookie Athan Kaliakmanis got the start at quarterback, still auditioning for the No. 3 job behind Daniels and Mariota. Baltimore, playing a much fuller complement of players, scored early and often; a first-play fumble by Kaytron Allen set the tone, and it never got better from there. Washington was outgained 456-177 and managed exactly one field goal from Stevens. It's the kind of score that looks alarming on a screenshot and means almost nothing on the practice field, but it's still not how anyone wants to close out the preseason. The kicker battle is over After the opener, Washington cut Jake Moody and handed the job outright to undrafted rookie Drew Stevens, who'd been the more consistent leg for weeks. Head coach Dan Quinn said Stevens "established himself" and was kicking it "pure and clean", high praise for a guy who wasn't even drafted five months ago. It's the answer at kicker Washington has been searching for since 2023, and it's one less question mark heading into the opener. Where that leaves things 1-2, with the only real quarterback reps coming in flashes, a settled kicker competition, and a defense that flashed in Detroit before getting steamrolled in Baltimore. None of it tells us much about how the real season opens, but the Eagles are up next in Week 1, and that one counts.